2012-13 News Releases

For more information, contact the Dept. of School and Community Relations at 703-228-6004 www.apsva.us

School Board Approves Boundary Framework, Updated Boundary ProcessAdopts Changes to Middle and High School Programs of Studies

The Arlington School Board approved changes to School Board Policy 30-2.2 Boundaries and adopted the More Seats for More Students: Boundary Framework for 2012-13 at last night’s meeting.

Boundary Policy and Proposed Framework

Changes to the policy include:

Strengthening and expanding the wording on the community engagement process;

Streamlining of the boundary criteria, including minimizing the separation of small groups of students from their classmates when moving between school levels; and

Clarifying that boundary change options must be evaluated against the criteria and shared publicly through the community engagement process.

The framework directs the Superintendent to have staff develop, with community engagement, neighborhood boundary adjustments that will:

Establish a neighborhood boundary for the new elementary school at the Williamsburg Middle School site;

Evaluate boundaries in the context of new seats at Ashlawn and McKinley elementary schools;

Address crowding and capacity concerns for the seven identified neighborhood schools; and

Present boundary recommendations to the Board no later than the last meeting in March 2013; and

Middle and High School Programs of StudiesThe Board also approved changes to the Middle and High School Program of Studies for the 2013-14 school year. Additions to the high school program of studies include computer hardware, networking and cyber security; advanced math, environmental science, and IB Arabic and Mongolian. A complete list of changes can be viewed online.

Monitoring Items

Strategic Plan Update Goals 3 and 4 – The report highlighted progress made on Goals 3 and 4 of the APS Strategic Plan. The report noted that APS has already met some of the key performance indicator targets.

Plan for Multimodal Transportation and Student Safety Committee – Staff presented the proposed goals, charge and membership of the multimodal transportation and student safety committee. The School Board will further discuss the proposed committee at its Nov. 13 meeting. More information on the committee is available online.

Update on the Ashlawn Renovation Building Site Design – Staff presented an update on the Ashlawn project to give the School Board and the Arlington community a look at the beginning of the Ashlawn renovation.

The meeting began with the School Board recognizing the contributions of Mary Ann Moran to Arlington Public Schools and to the Arlington community. Moran is retiring after a 13 years with the Arlington Partnership for Children, Youth and Families.

Following the Board’s recognition of Moran, United Way representatives presented an award to APS in acknowledgement of the support of its employees to the 750 non-profits that are the beneficiaries of United Way contributions.

Citizens who want to comment on any of the items discussed at the Nov. 2 School Board meeting should contact the Board at school.board@apsva.us or call 703-228-6015.

Citizens may call 703-228-2400 the Monday after the School Board meetings to hear a meeting summary. School Board meetings are also broadcast live on Comcast Cable Channel 70 and Verizon FiOS Channel 41 and by live streaming on the APS Web site, and re-broadcast on Fridays at 9 p.m. and Mondays at 7:30 p.m. immediately following the meeting. All materials and minutes of the meeting will be posted to the Web site at www.apsva.us/schoolboard upon School Board approval at a subsequent meeting.